Ploughed and littered

February 18, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The field in today’s picture had been freshly ploughed (although this corner at the edge is more churned, I think). The rich brown of the turned soil contrasted nicely with the scattered orange fallen leaves that littered the surface. I don’t think the shot would have worked without the pylons.

If you want to see what the field might look like as springtime arrives, I have a shot from the same location here.

Something good that happened today…

I went to the cinema to see Captain America: Brave New World after work today. I’ve been steering clear of any reviews and opinions as much as possible (although I had seen a few people mention that these weren’t favourable) because I wanted to form my own opinions without being swayed by others. I sometime wish for the simpler times where the entire world didn’t feel the need to be seemingly harshly critical of almost everything.

I enjoyed the film. It’s not the best MCU movie, but it’s far from the worst, and I had a solid couple of hours of solid entertainment, which is all I really want from this sort of film.

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Portra 400. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 26 october 2024

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Autumnal bridge crossing

February 17, 2025February 17, 2025 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

Another picture from my Trans Pennine Way walk back in October, albeit this is a bridge that crosses the trail, rather than carries it.

Something good that happened today…

Our eldest son and our daughter-in-law came over for tea* today, which was nice.

*Not the drink. Tea is what we call dinner around these parts. And to confuse matters more, dinner is what we call lunch.

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Portra 400. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 26 october 2024

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Fences (sections of)

February 16, 2025February 17, 2025 fishyfisharcade3 Comments

Three pictures of bits of fence on the Trans-Pennine Trail that I shot during a walk at the end of October. The weather wasn’t the best and I don’t tend to shoot (expensive!) colour film on days such as this, but it had been loaded in the camera a while before so I decided to make use of it anyway.

Something good that happened today…

After a run of pretty dismal, dull, grey weather – including yesterday where it also rained as well as being murky – today was a little brighter. Not exactly sunny, but there was a little structure in the clouds and occasional splashes of brightness where the sun found a way through the cloud. This provided an opportunity to go out and make some photographs. I didn’t have any great project in mind, and if I’m honest, my mind wasn’t really in the right place for it, but I got myself dressed an headed out anyway. In the end I shot 20 frames of the roll of Ilford HP5+. I’ll be interested to see how they turn out after I’ve finished the roll and developed it, but I had promising feelings about a lot of them. We shall see.

Yashica Mat 124G & Kodak Portra 400. Lab developed, home scanned and converted with Negative Lab Pro.

Taken on 26 october 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

No more golf

February 15, 2025February 15, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

The photo today is of the clubhouse at Renishaw Golf Course. Or should I say the former Renishaw Golf Course, because it closed last year. The course is bordered by the River Rother at its eastern boundary and as such is subject to flooding. I would often drive past following periods of heavy rain and see some of the fairways submerged, perhaps due to the rainfall alone, but perhaps also when flood defences have been engaged on the river, causing it to flood in certain areas to protect others.

I don’t believe the club house ever flooded as it’s at a higher elevations, but it’s now up for sale.

I have more photos from the golf course that I’ve taken in recent months. It’s amazing how quick nature begins to reclaim such places when they are no longer actively maintained.

Something good that happened today…

Our house (just to be clear, not the Renishaw Golf Course clubhouse!) is currently up for sale as we’re hoping to move to a bungalow (albeit a large bungalow suitable for the four of us). Someone who came to look at our house last week has offered the asking price, which is good. We now have the challenge of finding somewhere that we would like to move into which, given the dearth of such properties on the market at present, may take some time..

Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 9mins.

Taken on 26 October 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Phone box and town hall

February 14, 2025 fishyfisharcade2 Comments

There are still a number of the old K6 telephone boxes in Sheffield city centre, a lot of them clustered around the town hall area. This one stands on Leopold Street and has seen better days. I’ve photographed it on quite a few occasions, and it’s featured in the blog on at least one previous occasion.

There are still numerous K6 phone boxes around the country, but the ones out of town centres rarely contain telephones anymore, now tending to be used to house mini-libraries, or sometimes defibrillators.

Something good that happened today…

I had a call with a customer that I had been a little nervous about (this is not unusual, I often feel nerves before such calls, despite never having had one go badly), but it went well, which is always a relief. People I’ve been on customer calls with have always fed back on how confident and composed I am, but my own inner imposter-syndrome tends to try and tell me otherwise.

Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 9mins.

Taken on 25 October 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Muriel

February 13, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Muriel is the title of the piece of street art seen painted on the gable-end of the building in today’s photo. It’s by local artist, Pete McKee and had been there since 2018. Sadly though, someone has seen fit to stain Muriel’s coat.

Something good that happened today…

I’ve been backing files up onto an external hard drive for a while now, but was conscious of the fact that I probably wasn’t doing it very efficiently. Today I’ve rectified that and now have a much improved, simpler, and mostly hands-off method, so I’m happy about that.

Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 9mins.

Taken on 25 October 2024

35mm · Film photography · Photography

Pigeons

February 12, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

Well there’s the rule of odds out the window, eh?

Something good that happened today…

While browsing Reddit earlier I came across a post about an old British children’s programme called Spider. Spider wasn’t something I watched as a child – I predate it by quite some time – but my oldest son had an episode of it on a VHS tape back in the 90s which contained a compilation of single episodes from various children’s animated shows, and we watched this one together on numerous occasions. Seeing a single image of Spider on Reddit instantly brought back the song, lyrics and all, that featured in this episode, titled Spider in the Bath which I’d stored somewhere in my memory banks awaiting something to trigger it one day. Today was that day…

Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 9mins.

Taken on 25 October 2024

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Around Park Hill flats

February 11, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A quartet of pictures I shot one morning on my way into the office.

Park Hill Flats are a notable (and some might say, notorious) landmark in Sheffield, being one of the major landmarks visible when entering the city by rail or by road down the main arterial route from the motorway.

When originally constructed in the late 1950s, / early 1960s they replaced older back-to-back tenement housing and gave the residents the luxury of their own private bathrooms and heating. Due to the construction on a hillside it was possible to reach every floor apart from the highest from somewhere at ground level and the wide frontages to the flats were wide enough for electric milk-floats to be driven, and the name “streets in the sky” was coined.

Over time, a mixture of poor maintenance, and rising antisocial behaviour and crime blighted the development. Over time it became more difficult to house tenants on the site. In recent decades, a part-privatisation of the development has taken place, with the blocks being gradually refurbished and improved into a mixture of upmarket housing, social housing, and business units, and there are now much improved facilities on the site.

Whatever your thoughts on the brutalist architectural design, the place is certainly striking, and for a photographer provides ample opportunities for interesting pictures to be made.

Something good that happened today…

I heard today that one of the people in our team impacted by the recent redundancies has secured himself a new role, so I’m very happy for him. He’s a great young man with a lot of promise and deserves every opportunity.

Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 9mins.

Taken on 25 October 2024

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

Table 6

February 10, 2025 fishyfisharcadeLeave a comment

A very short walk from the Impressions Gallery in Bradford is a cafe called The Cake’ole (“cake’ole” being slang for “mouth” – the hole where you insert cake 🙂 ). I ordered a sandwich and a coke, and was very happy with both the food and the service. Next time I visit the gallery I’ll almost certainly pay a visit to The Cake’ole again too. Maybe I’ll try one of the nice looking cakes next time. I took the picture below while awaiting my sandwich.

Something good that happened today…

Back at work after the weekend on a gray and rainy Monday (it’s February in the UK, so this is perhaps to be expected). But I had another day that felt productive and that always gives me a satisfied feeling when the working day is over.

Olympus OM-10 & G.Zuiko 35mm f/2.8 on Ilford HP5+. Ilfotec DD-X 1+4 @ 20° 9mins.

Taken on 12 October 2024

Film photography · Medium Format · Photography

In Bradford

February 9, 2025 fishyfisharcade4 Comments

The photos shared today were taken when I visited the Impressions Gallery in Bradfordfor the photobook fair and the Cafe Royal exhibition.

I’ve only been to Bradford on a handful of occasions, and every visit has been for a specific purpose with little time to explore, but I think I will make some proper time to do so one day as there is a lot of interesting stuff to be seen.

Something good that happened today…

I went out for Sunday Dinner with my wife and had a very nice steak and ale pie served with chunky chips and proper mushy peas. All washed down with a pint of cider.